Washington: Eating raisins as an after-school snack prevents excessive calorie intake and increases satiety - or feeling of fullness - as compared to other commonly consumed snacks, a new study has suggested.

The study, funded by a grant from the California Raisin Marketing Board, was conducted among 26 normal-weight boys and girls aged 8 - 11 during a three-month timeframe.

Study participants were randomly assigned to eat raisins or other snacks, including grapes, potato chips or chocolate chip cookies, until they were comfortably full.

Additionally, each child received the same standardized breakfast, morning snack and lunch on test days. Subjective appetite was measured before and immediately after snack consumption at 15-minute intervals.The result showed that food intake following raisin consumption was lower and satiation greater compared to the other snacks.

When eating raisins, children consumed significantly fewer calories when compared to other snacks in the study.Grapes, potato chips and cookies resulted in approximately 56 per cent, 70 per cent and 108 percent higher calorie intake compared to raisins, respectively.

Although all snacks reduced subjective appetite, desire-to-eat was lowest after consuming raisins.The study was conducted by lead researcher, G. Harvey Anderson, Ph.D., Professor of Nutritional Sciences and Physiology, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto and co-investigated by Nick Bellissimo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Nutrition, Ryerson University and Bohdan Luhovyy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Human Nutrition, Mount Saint Vincent University.

"To our knowledge, this is the first controlled study that looks at after-school snacking and satiety among children," said Anderson.

"We found consumption of raisins as a snack prevented excessive calorie intake, increased the feeling of fullness, and thereby may help contribute to the maintenance of a healthy weight in school-age children," he added.The research was recently announced at the Canadian Nutrition Society annual meeting in Vancouver, B.C.